Robert Riberia’s Red Rock News

While hiking in Arches National Park on Memorial Day, Rhonda and I came across several large, brightly colored lizards. Their brilliant orange coloration was so striking that I spent quite a while chasing these little buggers in and out of bushes so that I could get some photographs of them. I had a good time, but I think Rhonda had an even better time watching me on my wild lizard hunt!

After a little research it turns out that these lizards are called Long-nosed Leopard Lizards (Gambelia wislizenii). They are relatively large lizards with a large head, long snout, and a long, round tail. This species normally has a white, cream, or gray ground color with irregular brown or dark gray spots covering the head and body. Occasionally, dark dorsal bars cross the back. The tail also has dark transverse bars giving the appearance of banding. The cool thing is that this species exhibits Female Breeding Coloration. Females develop bright red or orange pigmentation on the sides of the head, lateral torso, and ventral surface of the tail during the breeding season. The coloration is pretty awesome to see, since most lizards in this part of the world are quite bland.

Click on each pic for a closer look…

Long-nosed Leopard Lizard

Amorous Eyes?

I’ve driven quite a few scenic routes across the entire United States - all over the east coast from the tip of Maine to the bottom of Florida, to the mountains of Colorado, Wyoming and California, to the canyons of Arizona and Utah. However, I can honestly say that there is no doubt in my mind that the section of Utah Scenic Byway 12, which traverses the wild slickrock country between the small towns of Escalante and Boulder, is the most scenic stretch of highway in America. No other byway combines such jaw dropping scenery with such incredible geologic diversity. Every twist and turn on this section of highway yields something completely different! After my first trip out west I used to actually have dreams about driving this section of highway. As a dedicated hiker, that’s really amazing!

Utah’s Scenic Byway 12 winds through vast expanses of slickrock country including part of the Escalante Canyons and other hiking areas. Pullouts along the route provide opportunities to view the Escalante Basin, the Henry Mountains and other awesome scenery. This section of Scenic Byway 12 was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and completed in 1935 (paved in 1971) providing the first year-round access for automobiles to this isolated pocket in southwestern Utah.

I stopped at a couple of pull-offs along this section of road and captured the following 2 panoramas. Driving this winding road is not only fun, it is a total blast. If you wonder what it would be like to stop your vehicle and run up and over some of these wild formations, let me tell you - it leads to even more beautiful scenery. This is one area that I just can’t get enough of!

Click on each photo for a closer look…

(This one is my favorite.)

A few weeks ago Rhonda and I were hiking in the Kolob Canyons section of Zion, enjoying the beautiful views and plentiful lizards, which always make wonderful photo subjects. As we continued along the trail yet another lizard crossed the path directly in front of Rhonda. Unfortunately for the lizard, a snake suddenly shot out of a nearby bush and snatched up the lizard no more than 2 feet in front of Rhonda! It then proceeded to carry the still wiggling lizard about 30 feet to a protective bush so it could enjoy its afternoon snack. Prior to this experience I had only seen this kind of thing in nature films. It was pretty wild!

Thanks to the fast power-up speed of my new digital SLR, I was able to grab the following photos as the events were unfolding in front of us. Click for a closer look at the gruesome details…

I don’t claim to know snake species (other than rattlesnakes), but after checking a guidebook it seems that the snake was a Desert Striped Whipsnake. Surprisingly enough, we had both guessed that it was a whipsnake, but we weren’t exactly sure what species.

But wait, there’s more…

Two days latter we hiking on a paved trail in Zion Canyon, less than a mile from the Visitor Center. We were out taking early morning photographs of the Watchman, a popular rock formation best viewed from this trail. As we crossed a footbridge over the Virgin River, we were quite surprised at the opposite end of the bridge to see the one kind of snake that we have NO PROBLEM identifying, the Western Rattlesnake! This puppy was coiled and ready for action…

I’ve been hiking in the deep backcountry of southern Utah for 20 years. During that time I have come across only 3 rattlesnakes, all of them at a great distance. It’s interesting to note that my closest encounter was on a paved front-country trail.

I have added a few more of the photos that I took during our recent trip to southwestern/central Utah. Check them out by clicking on the following photo…

I’ve put up a new gallery containing photos from my recent trip around southern Utah. It was also was the first major trip with my Digital SLR, which performed quite well. Take a look by clicking on the following image…

Rhonda and I have just returned from a 10-day romp around southern Utah. I racked up nearly 1500 photos. Man, what a wild place we live in! I can’t wait to upload a bunch of photos from the trip, but in the meantime here are just a few.

Where in southern Utah were we???